Monthly Archives: August 2012

I love grilling fresh summer vegetables. One of my recent favorites is grilled shallots. Grilling brings out the sweetness in these normally mild, onion-like root vegetable. Grilled tomatoes and grilled corn are also two of my favorites vegetables on the barbie. Here, I tossed them all together.

Grilling tomatoes and shallots: First, peel the shallots and chop them in halves. Toss shallots and cherry tomatoes in olive oil and either dried herbs or sprigs of fresh herbs, such as oregano, thyme or rosemary. To grill them, we have a grill wok that is great for small vegetables. But if you don’t have one of those, you can use tin foil. Grill for a few minutes, until browning and juicy.

Grilled corn: Pull back the leaves (without cutting them off), tears out the strings, then soaks them for an hour in water. Then grill them straight on the grill. Grill them for about 15 minutes, turning it every few minutes.

I spent the first 10 years of my vegetarian life living off of frozen, store-bought vegetarian burgers. As I started making more of my own food, that included making my own vegetarian, plant-based burgers. Most of the tastiest vegetable burgers are complicated to make. The easiest burger I had found so far is the 5-ingredient black bean burger from Happy Herbivore. This weekend, I tried and loved this Mediterranean Lentil Burger from Peas and Thank You. Easy and delicious.

I served it with hummus, relish, arugula, red onion and tomatoes.

Get the full recipe here. I made the lentils from scratch; about 1 cup dried equals 8 oz cooked. Also, double the recipe! It is easy to make but only makes 4 patties.

This is one of my favorite tofu recipes. It requires a little planning and the use of “liquid smoke,” which most non-vegans probably do not have in their pantry, but they are well worth it.

The recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, Peas and Thank You. You can get the full recipe here. She encourages you to marinade the tofu for several hours, but I only did it for one hour this time and it was still delicious.

I got this recipe in the September 2012 issue of Vegetarian Times. They did a feature on shallots and I have already made this recipe twice. It’s easy and a fun way to eat potatoes.

Baked (Sweet) Potatoes

I’ve done this with both white potatoes and sweet potatoes. I almost always prefer sweet potatoes, and this was no exception!

4-5 small to medium potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 450. Wash and scrub the potatoes. Slice in them in half length-wise. Toss them in a bowl with oil, salt and pepper to taste. Lay them on a baking sheet with open side up. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Shallot Chutney

This is the best part of the dish!

1/2 pound shallots, chopped

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons brown sugar

large pinch red pepper flakes

Saute the shallots in oil or water for 10 minutes on medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes. Heat on low for about one minute.

Serve with the chutney topped on the potatoes. You can even use your fingers to eat it like a finger food!

We took a last minute trip to the beach with my parents this weekend. None of us had planned ahead about dinners. I thought up this one in a hurry. Delicious, filling and super easy.

Tempeh Taco Salad

Ingredients

2-3 packs tempeh

1 bottle mexican-themed marinade. We used a chipotle lime marinade

5-8 oz baby spinach, pre-washed

1.5 large avocados (or 2 medium sized avocados)

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

1-2 teaspoons mild vinegar such as white wine or apple cider

1.5 cups black beans (or 1 can, rinsed and rained)

3/4-1 cup salsa (freshly chopped salsa that isn’t liquid-like is best for this. I got it from the produce section in Harris Teeter)

1-2 cups baby corn, frozen then heated in the microwave until no longer frozen

Tortilla chips

1/2 jar olives, chopped

Directions

Marinade the tempeh ahead of time, for at least 30 minutes and ideally longer

Grill the marinade on a grill for about 5 minute, flipping on both sides. Or, bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until browned.

Combine the baby spinach, 1 avocado, olive oil and vinegar in a large salad bowl. Using your (clean) hands or strong salad spoons, mix them together, squishing the avocado until only a few chunks of it are left and it has fully coated the spinach. The spinach should look wet and slightly wilt.

Mix in the beans, salsa, corn and olives

Take a couple handfuls of tortilla chips and break them into the salad

Slice the remaining avocado and add to the bowl

When the tempeh is finished grilling, slice it in half length-wise. Then slice it into strips horizontally so that you have 1-2 inch strips. Add to the bowl

If you’ve ever been on a road trip with me, you know that I travel with food. Here are two dishes you can prepare in a hurry to take with you on a road trip. Bring reusable forks, spoons and bowls, then pull over at a rest stop to eat this healthy food instead of getting fast food. It makes plenty so that you can eat it for lunches or snacks throughout your weekend getaway. These dishes are also perfect for a cook-out, tailgate, or potluck because they yield plenty to share.

(Please forgive the low quality, iphone photo!)

Bean Salad

Ingredients

6 cups cooked beans, or 4 cans of beans rinsed and drained. Use a mix of beans such as chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, or white cannelloni beans

lemon juice (start with 1 teaspoon and add more to suit your preference)

dried herbs such as oregano and basil

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Mix everything together. Shake/stir until well coated. Eat immediately or let marinate for added flavor. This will stay good for at least 5 days, but you probably won’t let it last that long!

Sun-dried Tomato Quinoa Cous Cous

Ingredients

2-4 carrots, shopped into rounds or half moons

1 cup cous cous (preferably whole wheat)

1 cup mix of red and white quinoa, rinsed and drained

1 jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (I prefer the jar from Trader Joe’s) Note: the oil is important here because it flavors the rest of the dish. If you don’t have oil-packed jar, then you’ll need to add in oil (such as olive oil).

1-2 TBS pine nuts (or more!)

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, add about 1-2 teaspoons of oil or 1-2 tablespoons water and heat over medium heat. Add carrots and shake them around while they cook a couple times a minute, for about 3 minutes or until carrots are soft and beginning to brown

Add 3 3/4 cups water to the saucepan with the carrots and bring to a boil

Add the quinoa and cous cous, return to the boil, stir, then reduce the heat to a low medium (just at a simmer) and cover. Cook for about 10-15 minutes

Meanwhile, drain about 1/3 of the oil out of the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. If you want this to be especially tasty and are not as concerned about the fat content, leave in more oil. If you are more concerned about fat content, use less oil.

Once the quinoa and cous cous are done cooking, pour them into a large travel dish container (I use a glass 8 inch by 8 inch pyrex). Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and remaining oil from the jar. Add the pine nuts and mix.

For both of these dishes, be flexible and creative when you making them. Taste as you go. Serve together, or eat separately.

Merging the flavors of heirloom tomatoes with nectarine is something I did not think of on my own. My latest edition of Vegetarian Times featured this recipe. It is delicious. As an added bonus, there’s no cooking required, which makes it an ideal summer dish.